According a release from S&P, fully understanding the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of an underlying mortgage is one of the greatest challenges the industry faces when analyzing mortgages and RMBS.

Through this alliance, investors will have direct access to S&P loan level information and a wide range of collateral valuation data from Veros, which includes current property value estimates, combined loan to value ratios and home price forecasts.

“The goal of this alliance is to provide RMBS investors worldwide greater clarity, transparency, and analytical capabilities when assessing the risk of their US RMBS holdings and their collateral” said David Goldstein, managing director at S&P FIRMS. “This alliance is one more step toward improving the disclosure of information on collateral underlying RMBS, and refining the quality and integrity of information available to investors. The first stage in this strategic alliance will be to offer Veros loan level property information along with Standard & Poor's Global Data Solutions --U.S. RMBS Edition."

“Veros is very excited to be an integral part of Standard & Poor’s efforts to provide greater loan level analytics to the non-agency market,” said Darius Bozorgi, president and CEO of Veros. “The combination of Standard & Poor’s FIRMS RMBS loan level data and analytics alongwith Veros’ insightful property valuation data sets provides an unmatched unique offering for investors.”

FIRMS is an analytics and research unit separate from S&P’s ratings business that delivers solutions to help investors perform greater analysis on the financial instruments in their portfolios.